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Doc Scratch
'Doc Scratch'is a mysterious, powerful being who communicates primarily with Vriska Serket via Trollian. He also communicates frequently with Rose Lalonde in her session. He uses pure white text and no chumhandle or trolltag, making conversations difficult to read without highlighting, and types using accurate grammar and punctuation, without any of the defining "quirks" prevalent among trolls – though one could argue that perfect grammar is a quirk in itself. Being nearly omniscient, he is an extremely skilled manipulator. He also fits into the billiards concept introduced by The Felt, representing the cue ball. His name is an obvious reference to the pool term for pocketing the cue ball. This relates to how Doc Scratch would die in order to bring forth Lrd English. It may also play on "Old Scratch," a traditional name for Satan, which relates to his role as "The Devil" in the story of the Ancestors. "Scratch" also means "to erase or eliminate", which reflects English's role as the demon that will destroy the universe. Like his master, Doc Scratch is not his true name, rather, it is merely a pseudonym. Scratch appears as a humanoid figure in a white and green suit with a white handgun. His head is shaped like a cue ball, though the lack of an outline makes it look less like a ball and more like a hole in space. He is surrounded by the same green-white flickering lightning effect that surrounds Bec. Personality Doc Scratch was developed by Hussie with a devil figure in mind. It is no surprise, then, that he is a master at manipulating people and events to his own ends, leading Alternia to live a radically different life than its pre-Scratch counterpart did. From extremely radical changes like introducing a Horrorterror onto the trolls' home planet to more cosmetic changes such as the addition of his own green moon, Scratch seems determined to leave his mark. Hussie aptly describes the planet as Scratch's troll fanfiction, with Scratch changing details of the original planet but keeping the same people. Scratch is self-assured and believes himself better than amateur manipulators like Vriska and Equius, as unlike them, "He never lies", and he always plays with his cards face up. He also seems to be extremely intelligent and composed, as during the very same conversation with Vriska, he states that even though he tells Vriska what his next moves will be during their matches, she still can't beat him. This is because he is an expert manipulator of people but does not rely on deception to accomplish it—a skill that Vriska envies in both Scratch and Terezi. The fact that he writes in the color white and that he has no Pesterchum handle (due to typing on a typewriter) indicates that he prefers to remain an anonymous party and work behind the scenes, carrying out his schemes with the least amount of influence possible. He doesn't want to be directly involved in the happenings that lead to fulfilling the planet's ultimate purpose, nor to his employer's entry to the universe, and therefore prefers to coerce others to do it. Figuratively speaking, he seems to consider others to be less than players, mere pieces to be moved into place—or perhaps billiard balls which, when struck by the cue ball, will move, whether they desire to or not. In fact, though only a small portion of the conversation can be seen, in one panel we see Aradia conversing with Scratch via Trollian, highlighting a portion of his text that suggests he doesn't understand the arrival of Jack Noir to the trolls' incipisphere, and isn't supposed to be involved with this particular incident. When he speaks to Vriska it is with an air of superiority, telling Vriska that "The short amount of time I have reserved for arguing with a child has expired." He has a soft spot for young ladies, as mentioned here, though not in the way one would immediately assume. So far, besides Karkat and a single, short conversation with Gamzee where he revealed that he's played everyone for fools, all the children he's contacted have been female, and he generally tries to be as civil and polite as possible to them whilst manipulating them. This can sometimes become awkward, as seen in the previous link, though Scratch likely makes it purposefully so for his own amusement. Being near omniscient, anything unexpected or unexplainable is very troubling for him. For example, Vriska had been able to inch closer to victory during their matches of what appeared to be chess on a game board that looks exactly like the Skaian battlefield after receiving the second Kernelsprite. In addition, Terezi had been able to initiate contact with him, despite lacking an account name, an internet connection, and a computer. She was able to do this with help from Sollux. He refused to tell her his name and instead told her to call him Mr. Vanilla Milkshake, foreshadowing Terezi's future habit of associating colors with flavors. Terezi then explained to him that the only reason Vriska was winning in their games was because she was cheating by using one of Scratch's lost Magic Cue Balls. After being informed of this, Scratch uncharacteristically flips the fuck out and blows up the Cue Ball in Vriska's face, removing her vision eightfold and her arm. After setting all of the conditions for the summoning of Lrd English, Scratch claims that he feels he has no further purpose, and has begun to yearn for his own destruction. At an unspecified point in time, he contacts Rose Lalonde, and, being omniscient, seems to be an incredibly useful source of information. His relationship with Rose is one part mentorship and two parts creeping her out, with Scratch teasing her and calling her cute even though it skeeves her out. He tells Rose about the Green Sun, the source of his power and that of the other First Guardians, and how to reach its location in the Furthest Ring. Rose, realizing that this could be used to her advantage, concocts a plan with the help of Scratch to navigate the Furthest Ring and destroy the Green Sun using the Scratch properties of The Tumor, thus sending the immortal Doc Scratch to his desired doom, and according to him, fulfilling another condition for the summoning of English. She has been shown to have been wrong. The Tumor explodes in empty non-space, and creates the Green Sun instead, retroactively providing the means for Scratch's omnipotence. She should've asked better questions. Trivia *As of this update, you can view any adventure before SNOP with a Scratch theme. The candy-corn top-border dividers are replaced with cue balls, the ads are replaced with an image of his room in the FeltManor, the MS Paint Adventures logo is replaced with a cue ball, and the entire screen is shown in green. Clicking the Felt Manor image or the cue ball will revert it to normality. *As of this update Scratch himself now appears in the top banner, after claiming he will "step away for a moment" from his task of telling the story directly. As the pages progress in the main story, the scene on the top banner plays out this update, and scenes preceding and succeeding it. Spades Slick pours oil over all over Scratch's study, while Scratch is "distacted" with the narration. In the banner of this update, in the light of the fire, Hella Jeff's face is visible in or on Doc Scratch's head. **Hussie continues using this format for dual-storytelling purposes until this page. *Scratch laughs in the same manner as Lil' Cal, albeit slightly monotonous. This is due to being the ectobiological son of Cal. *Even though the trolls need to highlight his text to be able to read it, the text is slightly whiter than the site's light grey background, and as such, readable on some screens. *Scratch is four feet tall, according to the top banner of this update. *With the introduction of the God Cat in the post-Scratch kids' world, it is implied that there was a different guardian in the pre-Scratch trolls' session. Who this guardian was, or whether they existed is as of yet unknown. *It was revealed that the green moon where Scratch lives did not exist in the pre-Scratch troll universe. Because of this, it is likely that Scratch created or brought the moon to Alternia from somewhere else to use as his home. *Doc Scratch's holster can be seen hanging in Calliope's room. *The wolf that harasses Hussie in Scratch's apartment is Gmork from The Neverending Story. Category:Character Category:Non-human Category:Men Category:Thunderbolts